Songling County is mountainous, and if you want to go to the county town of Huaide, you still have a long mountain road to go after turning south over Nangang, which was once occupied by man-eating tigers.

Qi Jingzhi carried a long knife and a bag, and walked briskly on the mountain road, looking forward to this trip to the county town, especially the legendary Demon Suppression Governor's Office.

Speaking of which, this is the first time that a teenager has traveled away from home, but fortunately, he has Jiao Yulang as his guide, talking and laughing along the way, and he doesn't feel bored at all.

The two were not in a hurry, they went out a little late, and seeing that the sun had set in the west, they could not find a store in front of the village or behind the village, so they simply found a dilapidated courtyard next to the mountain road to shelter.

The courtyard is not big, one and a half of the three tiled houses have collapsed, and only the east house is still intact.

There was a leak of air on the west and south sides of the hall, and two door panels were laid horizontally on the ground of the north wall, and a layer of hay was spread on the door panels, as if no one had slept not long ago.

The door to the east room was hidden, and there was nothing but a clay kang covered with broken straw mats, and a faint musty smell wafted out.

Jiao Yulang had lived here on the road when he came, and knew that the elder brother of the Qi family had never left the county, so he introduced: "I heard that there is the ancestral tomb of a large family in the forest on the hillside behind the house, and this house was specially built and sent to take care of it here. Passers-by can't catch up with the night, so they deal with it here for a night. ”

Qi Jingzhi nodded, and saw that the hay on the door panel was quite clean, so he didn't bother to sleep on the cool kang in the east room.

He sat down on a random door, took out steamed buns and dried meat from his bag, and ate and drank with the water in his bag.

Jiao Yulang also followed suit, both of them had some cultivation, their teeth and appetite were quite good, and they also ate sweetly.

While eating and drinking, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and someone entered the courtyard again.

Qi Jingzhi looked up and saw that the people who came were a man and a woman, about twenty years old, dressed as village husbands and village women.

The woman is plain face to the sky, cloth dress and thorn skirt, very clean, half a step behind the man when walking, and pulls the corner of the man's clothes with one hand, which looks very intimate.

The two obviously didn't expect that there would be people in this dilapidated courtyard where there was no cooking smoke, and they stopped there.

The young man looked honest and honest, and when he saw the long knife on Qi Jingzhi's back, he hurriedly took a step sideways and protected the woman behind him.

On the contrary, the woman was more daring, peeking her head out from behind the man, her face was quite fair, and her eyebrows and eyes were a little delicate.

She gently pushed the man and said with a smile: "It's all because of my slow footsteps, and even my man is left on this mountain road together, it is difficult to walk in the dark, so I can only rest my feet first." Fortunately, it is not far from home, and the in-laws are in a hurry, and most of them have to send their uncles to greet them. The two little brothers are so young, do they dare to go out and walk the mountain road without an adult? ”

"Our brothers have a hard life, and my father and mother left early, so I can't take care of myself!"

Qi Jingzhi swallowed the jerky in his mouth, and replied to the other party's harmless smile: "Previously, the tiger in Nangang in the county cut off the trade route, and we were trapped at home, and the little capital we saved was gone. Now that I heard that the tiger plague had subsided, I had the courage to come out and go to my uncle's house in the county town to beg for food. ”

When he said this, the young man deliberately did not use the official dialect he learned from Meng Fuzi, but replaced it with the local accent of Songling County.

Jiao Yulang on the side barely listened to it, turned his head and glanced at the Qi family's brother, his eyes were complicated, and he stopped talking.

The two sides asked and answered, which was a preliminary decision, and whether they believed it or not, the atmosphere in the courtyard was much more relaxed after all.

The woman pulled her man and entered the hall generously, with a little sympathy on her face: "It's hard for you two brothers." You are from Songling County, I heard that the tiger is very evil, or did the county send someone to get rid of it? ”

"No, I ate more than a dozen of them just by eating people! The hunters would rather be beaten by the board than dare to go to Nangang to fight. The big families were in a hurry, and they asked Xiong Xianzun to offer a reward of one hundred taels! In the end, it was not a person sent by the county, but an adult who came to the capital on a business trip, surnamed Dong, and what kind of Wuyun Si Jinyun envoy. ”

Seeing that Qi Jingzhi spoke clearly, and the accent was indeed from Songling County, the woman's expression became more and more relaxed.

She tiptoed into her man's ear and muttered a few words, and then said loudly: "You talk to the two little brothers here, and I'll come back when I go." ”

Qi Jingzhi and Jiao Yulang are both deaf and clear-sighted, and they know that women want to go to the toilet, so they only treat themselves as deaf.

The young man was obviously a little hesitant, but he also knew that his daughter-in-law wanted him to see the two boys in the hall, so he had to nod.

The woman gave the man the small burden she was carrying, looked around, and went around the north wall to the back of the house.

As soon as she left, the hall fell silent.

The man put his luggage on the kang in the east house, checked the door carefully, and then stood upright at the door, and smiled at them when he saw Qi Jingzhi and Jiao Yulang looking over.

Seeing this, Jiao Yulang pursed his lips, looked away, lowered his head and continued to compete with the dried meat in his hand.

Qi Jingzhi was very interested: "Big brother is coming back from his mother's house with his sister-in-law?" ”

The man was stunned for a moment, then nodded, and the smile on his face was a little more abundant, but he still didn't speak.

In a matter of moments, the woman returned, carrying a bundle of hay out of nowhere, and a stick along the way.

She bowed slightly towards Qi Jingzhi and Jiao Yulang, turned around and walked towards the east room.

Seeing that the young man blocked the door, the woman did not speak, only raised her head and glanced at her man silently.

The man was visibly stunned and hurriedly moved out of the way.

The woman went into the house on her own, and carried the hay on the kang with her.

The young man turned his head to see his daughter-in-law working on the kang, but her feet were nailed to the spot, and he had no intention of going in to help.

Qi Jingzhi saw the whole process in his eyes, and his brows furrowed unconsciously.

Just now, he could clearly see a flash of panic and fear on the young man's face.

When the thought flashed, the young man suddenly smiled, and his native voice was full of sincerity: "Big brother, I have home-made jerky here, do you want to try it?" ”

Jiao Yulang raised his head suddenly, glanced at Qi Jing with some surprise, and then turned to the young man, his eyes full of doubt and scrutiny.

When you go out and meet each other in Pingshui, you have always eaten your own food, whether you invite someone to eat or eat someone else's, it is a big taboo.

Unexpectedly, the young man only hesitated slightly, then walked in front of Qi Jingzhi, squatted down with his back to the door of the east house, and took a piece of jerky with both hands.

He didn't eat it, but just rubbed the jerky in his hand, and only whispered after a while: "I don't know why, I suddenly feel a little scared." ”

Qi Jingzhi was about to speak, and suddenly raised his head and smiled: "Sister-in-law, do you want to eat some too?" ”

At some point, the woman was already leaning against the door, shaking her head when she heard the words, just staring silently at the back of her man.

At this time, even Jiao Yulang saw that something was wrong, and quietly touched the Qi family's elder brother with his elbow.

Qi Jingzhi nodded imperceptibly, and smiled at the man: "Big brother, sister-in-law called you!" ”

The young man's face palpitated, but he had no choice but to stand up and enter the room almost against the doorframe on the other side of the woman.

The woman bowed silently to Qi Jingzhi again, then reached out and closed the door, listened to the movement and pressed the door with a wooden stick.

The next moment, Qi Jingzhi Huo Ran got up, raised his hand and held the handle of the knife behind his back.

Just before he could make any further moves, he heard a bang, and the door of the east house exploded!

A black shadow landed on all fours, rushed out of the house like a whirlwind, jumped over Jiao Yulang's head without stopping, and knocked out a large hole in the north wall.

Immediately afterwards, an old man in brown with a very tall body and white hair chased out of the east room, and with a light footstep, he also jumped out of the hole in the wall.

The grizzled Jiao Yulang got up from the door panel, and looked at the east room, which was empty.

When he was stunned, the little baby felt that his shoulder was slapped heavily, and Qi Jingzhi's quiet voice came from his ears: "Let's go out and have a look!" ”